darling on the run
by polkka
Summary: After the events of the wedding, Hiro and Zero-two escape their roles as parasites (rated m for alter chapters, this is some depressing stuff so you warnings and all)
1. Chapter 1

Darling on the run

Chapter 1

 _Hiro staggered forward, the wind rushed past his face, rushing in his ears and eating away at any warmth in his body. The soft crunch of snow beneath him was barely audible as he nestled his face under his collar, hoping to keep his gaunt and bloodied face out of the freezing gale. His legs were in pain, his joints ached, his muscled burned with such warmth that the cold could not be felt. However he could not feel his toes, his feet were so blistered he felt as if he was walking on hot coals, he could feel his raw skin die as it froze in the knee high snowdrift. As each step peels off another layer he felt as if he would collapse. Nevertheless he pushed on; with his bride on his back he smiled bitterly._

" _Aren't we supposed to do this after the wedding" he thought, his mind swirling back to memories of the past…_

A silence hung over the house, the gardens, the lake, the home of squad 13. But the silence of hiro's world was broken by the soft sobbing of zero-two, whose tears of both heartbreak and primal rage stopped him from drifting into catatonic state of depression. He looked out the window, through the broken dome into the dark sky, a mixture of dust and cloud prevented him from observing the starry night sky as he had always done. No streaks of hope came into his view, he felt so powerless. Kokoro and mitsuru were gone, and it was his fault. Or at least he believed it was, he pushed for the wedding, and he got everyone on board.

He punched the window, causing cracks to race across the pane, like a spider's web, intertwining and connecting until they reached the wooden edge. The loud crack caused zero to give out a small yelp. Her face pale and mouth open. As if she had seen some kind of ghost. Hiro looked down to his clenched fingers, small shards of glass embedded into his skin like small diamonds on a necklace, the familiar crimson liquid flowed and dripped onto the floor, with and erratic pacing, but there was no pain, he clenched his fist tighter, to feel something, to prove to himself this was real, not some fever dream or horrible nightmare. He felt nothing. He hurled his fist at another pane on the window, crying out as he did, again the panes cracked, but then it shattered. The noise bounced from wall to wall then back to him. As he raised him fist to the next pane, it was suddenly stopped by a fierce grab followed by his legs being swept from underneath him and he fell onto his back with a colossal thud and several floorboards cracking.

Zero twos face hung over his, in her usual dominant manner, before she collapsed onto him in a ball of tears. As he tried to regain his breath she breathed deeply, her tears faded and her breathing once again reached its familiar pattern.

"D-darling?" she pleaded worryingly to her partner

"zero-two, please get off" he stated coldly his mind already too focused on his guilt that clawed at the back of his mind, as if trying to escape

She slapped him, hard…

In return he pushed her off and stood back up swivelling on his feet he then stared at the door, the claw marks etched into it and the eerie silence that lay beyond. While his love sat on the cold hard wood that made up the floor to their bedroom, she felt utterly powerless, her hands covering her eyes and her legs sprawled out, and half crossed in front of her.

Finally he turned around and crouched down to her level, he held his hand out, palm open offering his hand to her.

"Zero-two, when we first went to the city together you asked me to run away with you, do you remember?" he asked.

Her eyes peeked through the gaps between her fingers at him, and she nodded slowly.

"Well I want to offer the same question to you… let's leave together, we can take Strelizia and return to the ocean, we could live out the rest of our lives in peace, no more heartbreak, no more betrayal…"

Slowly her hands left her face, her eyes sparkled and she took his hand as they both stood up and embraced.

"Darling!" she exclaimed in joy "but what about the others..?"

"no…no we might put them in danger, we want them to be safe" he stated "they will have to stay here, so no one may know about out plan ok?"

She gave a small nod, knowing what this meant and she kissed him, as they both nuzzled their horns together, both cried silently at the prospect of abandoning everyone, but both believed it was for the best.

The next day passed with an almost unsettling smoothness, as everyone acted on autopilot, using work to push the bad memories out, to ignore the horror they had just been through, but both Hiro and Zero-two tried to make amends as subtlety as they could, and as the sky turned from a bright mixture of brown and grey, to a shade of pink and streaks of orange from the sky that cast long shadows of the ruined plantation, standing upright, like a wounded soldier standing at attention, barely keeping himself up to do his duty.

" _Duty" the word encapsulated Hiro; his life was all duties to someone, to his friends, his peers, his leaders and now his love. He clutched her on his back, her blossom pink hair stuck to his coat, frozen on by the sleet and snow that lashed at them, from all sides. The blizzard had left them isolated from landmarks, shelter and rest. Hiro cursed himself for his own weakness as he fell into the snows soft embrace, his foot caught on some unseen hazard. As he dragged himself to his feet he thought about the night he escaped his duty and he clenched his teeth at how foolish he was, he once again pushed on tightly gripping Zero-two on his back_

" _No" he reasoned "no this was for the best, the best for zero-two and myself, we are free, free…"_

 _He looked down at his feet, engulfed in white and leaving deep trenched that scarred the land behind him. He kept trying to justify their exodus, he kept telling himself it was in their best interests. And as the tears rolling down his cheek froze, he raised his head and kept plodding toward the eternal blankness that surrounded him. The iced winds knifed him, blasted away at him face, the powdery snowflakes, turning to water and small balls of ice that forced him to see through squinted eyes. Although he could now barely see through his eyelashes, he struggled on, his other half's shallow breaths warming his icy neck, her unconscious murmurs filling with hope, only to wrench it away as she fell back into her slumber._

 _As the wind finally settled for a brief window, he was able to spot a grey monolith, it towered above him. Like the lad in the garden, but it was more uniform, and square. He stumbled his way forward, using every last ounce of his soul to reach it. But it felt as if he would never make it the more he shuffled toward it the further away it got. He could only focus on the small entrance, a hole in the wall, the rest of the world faded to an obscurity, one foot after another, one step at a time. He reaches the hole and fell to his knees, an icy glaze fell into his view, and he pounded against the glass. Screaming and writhing in front of it. Bitter laughter escaped from his lips, followed by a insane cackle, he couldn't stop laughing._

" _Hahahaha…OPEN YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" he then suddenly screamed at the window, but he figured the window wouldn't hear even if it could, his shout was drowned out by the howling wind._

 _He sighed; he was going to die…. This was it, he would die, alone. He had failed everyone, his friends, himself and his soul mate. He dragged himself and Zero-two into the window frame, at least it was out the wind… and then he curled up around her, covering her body with his own._

 _And his eyes closed plunging his world into the dreaded darkness, and he tried to think back that first day they were free. And the warmth of the sun._

As the day after the fateful wedding ended and night crept over the ruined plantation and surrounding desert. The squad returned to their rooms, and most of them tried to escape to their dreams and innocent sleep. In the couples room however no such comforts could be afforded to them as they prepared for their excursion across the continent to the beach. They checked their list, and checked it again. They would only have one chance to do this and they had to do it right. Zero-two remained calm and composed whereas Hiros hands trembled, he was prepared to do what he had to do to escape this glorified prison that he had lived in for the what felt like years of his life though he believed it could not have been over a year. He sighed and finally spoke

"Ready?" he asked with a raised eyebrow

He got no answer just the smirk he had grown so used to. And with that they crept put the room, holding only two pieces of paper, a list and a letter. As they reached the bottom floor he walked into the dining room and placed the letter on a table, its cover simply reading "goodbye" and with that out the way he worked his way through the kitchen, taking as many ration packs as he could. Any food, any flavour, but he kept a eye out for honey, being able to collect fifty packets of the stuff. He then laid the food on a table and counted it up. A hundred all day meals gave them around fifty days of food rationed.

While he did this zero-two worked on collecting the clothes they would need: spare change of clothes, night wear, coats. She hovered over her old uniform, ripped and worn. She stuffed it in the bag and kept going. Finally Hiro had finally counted out each meal and packed it away in two bags, one for each of them. They met up by the lift, in an eerie silence; they were both not allowed to talk to one another, in case of the others noticing, but they embraced, passionately pulling in for a kiss before parting and going back to their tasks, as they were not out the woods yet. Zero-two opened the wall by the elevator to reveal a simple control panel of sorts, she then waved her id card at it and blinked green, before the heavy iron doors shuddered open and the two stepped on the platform.

They held hands as the lift fell story after the story, the dim orange glow of lights raced paced them, like small fires embedded in the walls, their amber glow being the only light available as the one large and foreboding city had been reduced to rubble. Hiro gulped quietly as the lift came to a halt and the doors slid open to reveal the immaculate and glistening white hallway, at the end of which their freedom lay ahead; however zero two had to change, into her suit. So reluctantly he waited in the pristine hallway, clutching at two bags. He kept glancing at the end of the hallway, that door, what would lay behind it, we wondered. He dropped the bags and leant against the wall. He tapped his leg with his hand, and his chest felt light and breaths were shallow and shaky. Finally Zero-two returned and the weight left his shoulders, she stood in her red spandex and she gave her toothy grin as she always did.

"Quit staring darling, you perv..." she teased

Hiro laughed warmly and picked up the bags, he started to stride down the hall. He and Zero-two threw open the door at the end of the hall, it opened to the enormous hanger that they had been in so many times. Yet this time it was different. He was not ready to fight; he was not ready to die. As the fuel piped into the Franxx, alarms blared and the room became a dim red. Everything faded into the background as he could not tear his eyes off her. As she hopped around the exterior of the mech with all her usual grace and ease, fitting tubes together and wrenching off support beams. All with a grin on her face that almost stretched ear to ear.

Together they entered the metal giant, reminding Hiro of that fateful day, a day he should have been forgotten, to a day he started to feel alive. And as they broke through the steel walls that encapsulated the hanger, stepping out into the barren desert that the world had become, he felt finally like he was living. They glided over the rocky and heat blasted landscape for the rest of the night, the stars and moon slowly retreated beyond the horizon, letting them stop, and step outside to feel the sun's rays beat down on them, announcing the start of a new day.


	2. Chapter 2

Darling on the run

Hiro stood on the just outside the cockpit, the horizon that surrounded him stretched out to the curvature of the earth. The dusty wasteland all around him was the same scenery as the last time they had a break from moving, and the fourteen times before that. He could feel the morning sun beating down on his pale back, so used to being crammed inside a stuffy and stifling suit that it rarely felt the suns power. He stretched his shoulders and yawned, his spine clicked and he bent backwards, smiling he unbuckled his belt, twice he had been forced to use a different hole on it, as he felt his core wane away. He pulled down his trousers and relived himself off the side of the Franxx, it felt like he was at the edge of space but he knew the Franxx weren't that big, but as he peered over the edge he still saw the ground fall away from him, so he quickly jolted his head back up to looking at the horizon.

There was also a welcome change of air quality every time he opened the slabs of metal they called doors, as the limited fuel supply forced them to shut off many of the Strelizias comfort measures. For example they had to turn off the heating, so at night the temperature fell so much they had so use the bags, any extra clothes and each other to keep warm. As well as this and more importantly in Hiros eyes, they had to turn off the air conditioning, making the crammed and cramped cockpit a sweatbox. It reminded him of the baths back at the mansion, but this time there was no water to wash them. The stench of humanity filled the air and only when the door opened the fresh air rushed in, dampening the smell.

A stir back in the cockpit made Hiro turn around and look into the darkness, under a bundle of rags and pink hair. Zero-two emerged. Her hair was a mess and her horns hadn't been filed down, but it was still his love. She shuffled over to him, like a zombie and she groaned as she approached the bright desert light. Smiling he stood opposite her and held her hands in his own, she was bent over, still half asleep. It was one of the rare chances he had to stand over her, like the prince from the stories he read to her all those years ago…

Soon enough though she rose to her full height and one again his eyes had to raise up to meet hers but he was just pleased she had woken up finally. After several minutes of embracing they sat down and grabbed some of the ration packs for the day. It was a slim selection, and variety was becoming rarer and rarer. Sadly for Hiro his love did not seem to feel the same way as she wolfed down the slop they called food, smothered in a thin blanket of honey. With a sigh he looked out to the west, the clear blue sky. And to his contentment he felt a body lean on him, and he could hear a pleasant sigh of joy.

"How have you held up then?" he asked her tenderly

"I don't know, it's definitely harder on us, look at you and me, half naked and drenched in sweat. But we are together aren't we… Daarling?" she replied in her usual half childish, half teasing way

"mhm, but how long do we have do you think? Until we reach the ocean" he wondered aloud

He did not receive and answer as he looked over top see Zero-two looking out into the distance, as he looked over to what she was so fixated on he realised what was going on. The still horizon from before had been broken up by a large dust cloud.

"How many?" he queried quickly

"Two… no wait three, they look like the same design, so it's not squad 13" she sighed

"That's probably for the best" he added quickly before going back into the cockpit, with Zero-two in toe behind him

The large door slid back into place as he and zero two got into their piloting positions, however this time without their usual fancy suits, and also a complete lack of the usual start-up procedure. He looked at the display on the back of Zero-two's head, the only part of the suit she was still wearing, and read the readings.

"All systems normal let's fly!" he shouted to her

With that and a pulls on the controls the statue like mech was brought to life and they started to speed toward the three hostile Franxx, Hiro's breathing slowed as he steeled himself for what he was already prepared to do in his heart. To kill.

The four Franxx began their dance of death, with an opening volley of missiles; this took the couple off guard, as it was a form of attack they had both never seen before. Nevertheless Hiro wrestled the controls to a hard turn to the right and he watched as the projectiles flew past him and blew up in the distance, with several mushroom clouds of dust and fire erupting from the scorched earth behind Strelizia. Hiro pushed forward to one of the Franxx, it was trailing behind what seemed to be the battle plan, so he assumed it would be the easiest to take out. However the other Franxx were not about to let their comrade die and so they fired off several volleys at his own machine, forcing him to pull out of the attack run. With hellfire raining down around Strelizia, he jumped into the air, the temporary sand storm that has just been created blinded the parasites he was fighting. With this window of peace opened to him he calculated his next move.

With a glint of something shiny below surfacing above the dust cloud he dove down. Like a hawk, thrusting the spear out in front of him, he fired its sharped tip out at the target. And he could hear the sound of metal clashing, warping and shattering as the tip punctured the enemy mech's chest area. Fuel squirted from the wound, like a wounded beast however the Franxx pulled itself up, swinging its arms at Strelizia, however the ever growing pool of fuel surrounding the two giant metal machines forced the wounded war machine to seize up, and going limp on the end of spear. More explosions suddenly ripped through the area, knocking Strelizia off balance and onto the floor. The fire and fury unleashed also ignited the puddle of fuel below the downed Franxx. And Hiro could only look on in horror as it was cooked in the burning liquid. It's crew unable to escape the doomed craft due to the intense heat outside. Hiro shuddered, he would not suffer the same fate, and neither would Zero-two. He leapt back into action, and once again standing on two feet he piloted himself away from the other two remaining Franxx as they themselves watched helplessly over their burning friends. Hiro then sped toward them again gaining more and more speed as he charged, he recognised their shock and horror, and he recognised they were grieving, but he had to take the other two mechs out, to protect Zero-two and himself.

His first strike on his chosen victim ripped the mechs arm off, and with it a large portions on its torso, where many of the rockets fired at him came from. However he had a stroke of luck as it did not bleed out fuel, allowing him to take off it legs with one swing of his spear, immobilising it. But it did not seem to move anyway before the forced amputation. The last remaining Franxx had the same markings as the one who had trailed behind beforehand. It pushed back, launching rockets that swerved and darted around in the dry air, they arced around to him as he flew away from the broken Franxx that lay on the floor, sparing the crew a similar fate to their friends. But Hiro still had plans for them. He dodged and slid on the floor as the rockets passed overhead, their hardened tips, usually used to piece the toughest klaxsaurs, were pointed squarely at him and his other half. He had to limbo below one and watched it fly by, but unfortunately for Hiro the rockets just turned back around. He ran toward the enemy Franxx, the rockets closing in on him from behind. He could read the "50m" as he approached, he saw it drop to "30m", then "20m" and finally he turned hard to the right, skidding across the sun scorched sands, the rockets could not turn in time, they hit the enemy Franxx, the shockwave of the blast as they detonated the rockets before it hit them, threw the enemy Franxx into the sky, where their engines sputtered to life after what felt like minutes of free-fall. They then tore through the sky back to the west, back to where they had come from.

"It's over..." he panted

"You were amazing as usual darling, but have used up a lot of fuel in this skirmish…" she stated bluntly

"Hm, don't worry I have a plan" he explained "we can take the fuel out of that downed Franxx, they should have enough left in their tanks"

"Well how will they get back to their home then?" she questioned

Hiro said nothing

He piloted Strelizia down to the Franxx on the floor, so the two cockpits lined up perfectly and he let go of the controls. He then got up and swiped at the door controls, and it opened. He then climbed over the metal giant and found refuelling pipe, slinging it over his shoulder he made his way over to his foes fuel tank. He cursed into the air bitterly as he could not access the port necessary to pump fuel out, and he realised he would have to go inside the cockpit of the other Franxx to get it open. With a sigh he scrambled over to the other Franxx door, banging on its outside, and getting no answer, then going over to the door controls and swiping Zero-twos id onto it. The sight that greeted him turned his stomach, the pistil who had taken the brunt of the injuries as the Franxx did was sprawled on the floor of the cockpit, her body and limbs twisted, her back warped into unnatural angle, bones in her arm and legs jutted out of the skin, and the blood. It covered her entire being, her hair was matted with it, her face was pale and white, except the patches of blood splattered over it, and the floor of the cockpit was also covered in it, like a fine varnish newly put on a desk surface. Over her lay her stamen, wailing and moaning, his face buried in her stomach. Hiro quietly stepped into the enclosed space, the bare soles of his feet being caked in the aforementioned blood. He crept over to the non-combat control panel, which among other things such as self-destruct allowed him access to the fuel ports.

So silently he typed away on the touch screen pad, opening the ports and also disabling the door controls so it would be easy for him to exit. But a stirring in the corner of his eye caught his attention; he looked over in time to take a punch to the face. He could feel blood dripping down his front, onto his bare chest, as the second punch came he swung his head to the side and the punch passed by, he grappled the parasites arm and he got a got a good look at his face. He was nearly the same age as Hiro, short hair, brown eyes. There was darkness in his eyes, a rage Hiro had never seen before. It was as if he wanted to not just kill Hiro, but to make him suffer, he saw that half crazed desperate look of a man no longer held back by his own morals. So Hiro stopped following his. He emulated his loves vicious side, as he threw the boy onto his back. But he felt an arm sweep away his right leg, he too then fell onto his back, knocking the air out his lungs, his coughing was cut out as a pair of hands wrapped around his neck, squeezing the life from him, his arms frantically waving for something to grab, to help knock his attacker off. As the edges of his vision darkened his fingers wrapped around a plastic handle, he picked up the weighted object and swung it at the boys head, knocking him off onto his side. Panting, Hiro grabbed the object and quickly looked at it. It was a tin lunchbox, with images of Franxx fighting and gloriously dying on a battlefield, on the top it read "together for papa", armed with this glorified propaganda he got ready to commit the most grievous of sins.

He pounced onto his victim, and held the tin box above his head and his eyes glowed with the familiar primal rage he had seen so much. He slammed it down into the boy's face; he could hear the cartilage in his nose pop as the flat surface crushed it against his bones. He lifted the box and threw it down again into bruised face of his prey. This time he could hear the bones in his face crack under the impact. Again he slammed it down into the kids face, again, again and again. By the ninth hit, the boy's face started to cave in as his bones cracked into smaller and smaller pieces; the head trauma caused his chestnut eyes to wander off into different directions. Blood seeped from the mouth of the doomed parasite, but Hiro kept going, bellowing out in anger as he repeatedly smashed the lunchbox into the head of his enemy, a person who had tried to kill him, to harm him and his love. He kept at it for far too long, even by Hiros own judgement. He fell by his enemies side panting and trembling, his bare chest splattered in specs of crimson red liquid, he looked up to see it covered the walls, ceiling and his hands. His face was also splashed in blood that ran like tears down his cheeks and dripped off his chin. He stared down at his trembling hands. He swallowed and then got back up to his feet, using a console as support he made his way out the cockpit. He raised his hand to relieve the strain of his eyes as the sun washed over him, he staggered out to Strelizia and he fell into the arms of Zero-Two.

She held him there, hugging him tightly, rubbing his back. She placed her head against his, their horns touching, but this time it was different his horns were bigger than Zero-Twos, and they were untamed, their pointed like blades protruding from his thick black hair.

He finally became the monster they threatened he would become, and it wasn't due to the inhuman blood that coursed through his veins.


	3. Chapter 3 unfinished

Darling on the Run

 **Authors note: sorry for my absence but here's what i have been able to write so far and i will update this to the full chapter when i finish it, will make it a longer one to make up for the long wait**

The sun crested the ridge on the horizon; the glowing ball of fire blasted the broken world below with rays of radiation, which began to cook the sand, the rocks and the dust, heating it to the point where it would scold and blister a bare foot. The steady whistle of the dry desert air blew past the cockpit, slowly sandblasting the colours from the metal giant, leaving the grey undercoat to bear the brunt of the inhospitable climate. Small dunes had formed on the shoulders and every nook and cranny was filled with enough sand to fill a small beach, and then some. The storm of the last two days had past, and once again you could see where the bright blue sky met the broken and dead ground. But the new day revealed a new surprise for the couple who piloted the mechanical beast.

Out in the distance, a man-made object blended into the ruined and ruptured landscape. Its sterile white and orange directing beams of light, forcing the onlookers to squint at it, and through their nearly shut eyes they could make out the cracked dome of transparency on top, with a large mansion surrounded by dead and dying plant life, trunks stuck out the artificial ground like the bleached rib bones of a skeleton in the Sahara.

With the flip of a few switches and a pull on a lever, computers whirred into life and the engines spluttered out black smoke and soot, before roaring to life and the Franxx came to life. It glided across the shattered wasteland toward their new found direction. The pilots had to find food there, and fast, Hiro estimated they only had 2 days of food left, and they still felt no nearer to their goal of reaching the ocean. But they had entered this desert after leaving the dreary tundra long ago. Well it felt like a long time ago. Everything had sort of blended together in his head, he still had not washed, how could he? But the stained clothes he wore were a constant reminder of what he had had to do to protect the one thing that mattered now. Additionally his new blue horns had emerged from the sea of black hair on his head, and there was no way of grinding them down, for now. And so he was officially a beast, who had lost his humanity, finally after so many years he could admit to himself that he was always different. He could never just follow orders. And live in ignorant bliss, now his choices had made his physically different, not just mentally. But his love treated all the same, leaving him felling more and more disconnected from his old comrades, and their blind faith that had protected them for so long, before it was cruelly ripped away from them.

They headed for a thin black line that ran across the plantations white outer walls, but as they approached this thin black line grew into a tear, a rip that stretched from top to bottom. It exposed the lifeless corpse of a city that was cocooned inside. The sands of time had crept into the once sterile and spotless streets. That once housed a remnant of humanity, who lived carefree lives, safe and sound in their fortress, protected by children raised to fight and die for them. He gave a grim smile, as sadistic thoughts of how they probably deserved it swept through his mind. But he quickly buried them, encasing them back into his subconscious, as he did with so many of these thoughts. Outside the great walls he hopped out his Franxx with Zero-Two. He wore his old uniform, with his battered shoes encasing his bare feet, and his torn blazer was wrapped around his head, to shield his head from the beating sun and to cover up his horns, which he figured would cause many survivors to be terrified of him. Together, he and Zero-Two peered through the tear in the metal outer shell, sunlight beaming through and illuminating much of the dark city, its luminous orange glow all but gone. The edges of the rip twisted and bent inwards with mini razors poking out in every direction, with a firm touch surely being able to draw blood. So he carefully made his way inside, the soft sound of his shoes on the dry sand, slowly changed to the harsh echoes of the same shoes on the concrete and artificial ground. The sound bounced all over the city, being reflected off walls and buildings.

He screamed "HELLO?" at the top of his lungs, but the only answer he would get was his own voice. He figured that the city was very much dead, its residents evacuated probably. He turned back to the entrance and the bright light piecing through and waved for the black shadow that was his soul mate to come in. And with her boundless grace and ease she leapt in to his side. Clutching at his arm as her eyes darted around the scenery, as if she was watching a game of ping pong.

Finally she turned to his and declared "it's all fine, there's no one here"

To which he replied with a slow clap and sarcastically stated "i can see that"

She gave him a light punch and the shoulder and he smiled, her aura of happiness vanquishing his current dark thoughts and painful reflection. After that they walked the street liked they owned it, with no one to stop her, Zero-Two jumped from place to place, easily doing flips and cartwheels. She even smugly asked if he wanted to join her. To which he simply smiled and told her sarcastically he found it way too easy to do the things she is doing, putting on an unimpressed face. In response she stepped off the ledge she was running along, falling about two stories and rolled as she landed into a full sprint next to him, grabbing him by hand as she ran past, dragging him along with her as she ran into a random building and up a set of steps, each floor they passed filling him with more anxiety and dread, until finally they were on the roof. The city below was quiet, and there was no wind, no power and no life. With an evil grin his pink hair demon of a girlfriend ran up to the edge, ready to jump off to the building next to it. Hiro screamed out loud, clamping his eyes shut, his heart pounding, knowing that zero two would try something like this, but suddenly she stopped dragging him. He opened his eyes a touch to find himself on the edge of the roof. He dove backwards landing on his arse, with a loud bump.

"Ow you are too rough…" He tried to say more but his frustration was drowned out by a manic giggling from in front of him.

"Serves you right darling, you only good at flying, remember?" she teased like always.

He just chuckled, his heart still beating through his ribcage.

Lying back he spotted a small glow from above, by the centre stem of the plantation. Zero-Two's eyes followed his and then she stared with him, at the small flickering glow similar to a candle in a breeze. Confused he sat upright. The morning sun was about to leave and it would plunge the city into darkness. So he started to get to his feet.

"We should get going" he stated bluntly

"But we need to scavenge for food at least?" Zero-Two pointed out

It was true they had come here for food and fuel, something felt off. A creeping sense of dread had consumed the back of his mind and was advancing into his forethought, slowly engulfing his rational brain. He grabbed Zero-Twos hand and led her back down the steps, each floor slowly relieving him as he descended to street level. However by the time they emerged from the block the sun hit noon and no more direct rays entered the dilapidated interior, leaving only a bright scar of light in the darkness above them. With their hands intertwined they walked back to the light, each step taken with thought and care, to not trip or fall. It truly felt like they had ascended to heaven as the blinding desert sunlight pierced their pupils once more.

On the other hand though Zero-Two had been right, they had very little food left. On top of that they had no bearing of where they were. So for that day they camped out outside the ruined plantation, the hours of blinding and scorching day passed at a gruelling pace. As usual he and Zero-Two kept each other company, often they would just sit on the top of the Franxx and watch the horizon. This seemingly cute thing had a darker purpose as usual as it was also to stop enemies sneaking up on them, with their current score being 3 small klaxosaurs and a few Franxx. Recently though nothing had come to them, they had not had a fight in what felt like forever

Soon enough though the Heat of day turned to the cold of night, and the pair retreated to the warm comfort of the cockpit and each other as they settled in for an early start the next morning, where they would venture back into the city in search of their required supplies. But Hiro still could not throw the feeling of dread; his primal instincts ate away at his subconscious in the night. His dreams led him to whimper and moan, however every time his eyes would snap open he would find the glow of Zero-Two's face, which eased his troubled mind.


End file.
